80 replies to this topic

[glorius&victorius]

Has anyone noticed how we are getting an invasion of boring helmet schemes? All in Red Bull colors?

Seb V, JEV, JA, Buemi... thank god Webber still keeps his original helmet scheme as much as possible. Also we saw Klien with the same.
I don't have anything against Red Bull. I think they do an excellent job in motorsport, having taken over where Marlboro left in supporting drivers through the ranks. Kudos to them for it.
Are RB drivers obliged to follow a certain helmet scheme?

Also in rally, Loeb etc, even Kimi changed to RB colours...

Wish we had more national flags inspired helmets, with a driver's personal touch. I saw a picture of Mika's helmet the other day and it was such a signature Mika styled helmet, Finnish colours, and fixed to Mika forever.

Edited by glorius&victorius, 18 November 2011 - 21:23.

[Group B]

Well, I'm not sure I'd totally blame Red Bull, but yes, I'd like to se more individual helmets with a hint of national flags (NOT just an all over union jack though).

[Madras]

One of the best helmet designs imo was Damon Hill's. Most drivers just have different coloured lines going everywhere.

[Andrew Hope]

Ehh.. 95% of helmets are ugly and unremarkable anyway. Having them in Red Bull colors doesn't make it any worse.

[handel]

Never thought I'd be googling "damon hill helmet".

Thank god for safesearch.

[motorhead]

One of the best helmet designs imo was Damon Hill's. Most drivers just have different coloured lines going everywhere.

Damon Hill´s father had that design, it was great that Damon kept it

[bourbon]

Why did you put Seb V? His helmet changes at nearly every race, and many of them are not specifically in RBR colors (which would be Blue, Yellow and Red). Clearly every time the drivers make use of one or two of those colors in their design, they are not necessarily thinking "Red bull" Jaime changes his now and again as well. It so happens that buemi's flag is made up of one of the Red Bull Colors, but it is atop his helmet. \

I think you have overstated your point here. Anyway, I don't favor the home flags on the helmet as a main artistic feature. I like the creative designs. I always liked Monaco for that reason - and I really dig that SV and his helmet maker come up with lots of cool designs.

[Dolph]

One of the best helmet designs imo was Damon Hill's. Most drivers just have different coloured lines going everywhere.

It was almost a copy past of his dad's though.

[Dolph]

Damon Hill´s father had that design, it was great that Damon kept it

Josh is also using it, I believe.

[Absulute]

Damon Hill´s father had that design, it was great that Damon kept it

Damon's son wears those colours too.

[Ramses1348]

Has anyone noticed how we are getting an invasion of boring helmet schemes? All in Red Bull colors?

Seb V, JEV, JA, Buemi... thank god Webber still keeps his original helmet scheme as much as possible. Also we saw Klien with the same.
I don't have anything against Red Bull. I think they do an excellent job in motorsport, having taken over where Marlboro left in supporting drivers through the ranks. Kudos to them for it.
Are RB drivers obliged to follow a certain helmet scheme?

Also in rally, Loeb etc, even Kimi changed to RB colours...

Wish we had more national flags inspired helmets, with a driver's personal touch. I saw a picture of Mika's helmet the other day and it was such a signature Mika styled helmet, Finnish colours, and fixed to Mika forever.

well i agree with most of your post, except that i find webber's helmet ugly

[One]

Blue, Yellow and red here there, thy all look he same, like a machine produced at somewhere in the factory, they all have fancy character andone has more hair than the other, but that is all so unified products line. To describe it, boring is a exact word.

[Madras]

It was almost a copy past of his dad's though.

Yes I know. So what?

Edited by Madras, 18 November 2011 - 23:22.

[purplejohn]

Damon's son wears those colours too.

doesn't josh where blue with the white dashes



edit, found a photo

Edited by purplejohn, 18 November 2011 - 23:25.

[PayasYouRace]

The Hills' helmets are the colours of the London Rowing Club. Of course they are very distinctive helmets.

[purplejohn]

Vettel used to use a lot of red bulls colouring in his helmets but now he just does what ever he wants, I quite enjoy getting a glimpse of his new designs on fridays.

I like it when drivers use one offs at Monaco, Singapore, Abu Dhabi and home races its interesting seeing something different and more visually striking

F1 is all about visuals

[showtime]

Alguersuari has some decent designs but unfortunately he keeps changing them. The pink one is quite recognizable, not one of my favourite colours but it's easy to spot.

[midgrid]

The thing that confuses me about Buemi and Alguersuari's helmets is that they keep switching between the different colours during events!

[Sevach]

Vettel started with a RedBull can helmet but now he has so many it's not a factor anymore, the only thing that says RedBull about most of them are the stickers.

Alguersuari, has a "Spanish helmet" with some RedBull on it because they are STR main sponsor, and he is also an RedBull sponsored driver.
On Buemi... well, there you have a point.

[BRK]

I actually agree, wish their helmets had more personality. (and less Red Bull!)

[DarthWillie]

doesn't josh where blue with the white dashes



edit, found a photo

Damon's is also blue, just very very dark blue. Like how they keep that family tradition..

I agree with the OP, too many Red Bull look alike helmets, Vettel's used to be green and blue. I think the Red Bul Drivers have to have the middle section of their helmets in Red Bull collors.
I like Vettel going all out with the design's some are beautiful like the Japan this year, some not so

[purplejohn]

The thing that confuses me about Buemi and Alguersuari's helmets is that they keep switching between the different colours during events!

the problem this their helmets is that the both have falcon sponsorship on the top of in a white circle

[fisssssi]

I wonder what Martin Brundle thinks about Vettel's constantly changing helmets...

[Jackmancer]

I wonder what Martin Brundle thinks about Vettel's constantly changing helmets...

He has spoken about it at least a dozen times I think. He thinks a driver's helmet is a drivers signature and they shouldn't change it every time or lend it to some corporate identity.

This is Vettel's only 'own' helmet I can find - though it must be just a random helmet. Red Bull where pretty quick to sign (and brand) him.

[pacificquay]

The helmet livery is a driver's brand, his signature and they should keep it largely the same.

You wouldn't have seen Ayrton Senna messing with his design, for example.

[HappyPhantom]

The helmet livery is a driver's brand, his signature and they should keep it largely the same.

You wouldn't have seen Ayrton Senna messing with his design, for example.

Who are you to tell them what to do. Maybe they don't give two cents about "their brand" and just have fun with it.

Edited by HappyPhantom, 19 November 2011 - 12:33.

[montoyasminion]

Well, I'm not sure I'd totally blame Red Bull, but yes, I'd like to se more individual helmets with a hint of national flags (NOT just an all over union jack though).

Speaking of national flags, I really miss this one. I'm surprised he's still wearing that all red one, looks tremendously out of place.

[Hippo]

The modern helmet design philosophies suck, imho. I liked it more when I saw a helmet and immediately knew whom it belonged to.

Raise your hand if you instantly recognize the driver by his helmet from this pic:

[V8 Fireworks]

Why did you put Seb V? His helmet changes at nearly every race, and many of them are not specifically in RBR colors (which would be Blue, Yellow and Red). Clearly every time the drivers make use of one or two of those colors in their design, they are not necessarily thinking "Red bull" Jaime changes his now and again as well. It so happens that buemi's flag is made up of one of the Red Bull Colors, but it is atop his helmet. \

It's ok to do that but Vettel's helmets could easily be mistaken for Sutil or Glock or Heidfeld or Kobyashi or Raikkonen etc etc. Any other elaborately styled helmet.

It's nice to have helmet designs that are instantly recognisable and well known by the fans instead.

Massa and Alonso have OK schemes... quite distinctive, though fairly elaborate. Hamilton's is good and so too Button. Webber's OK though it is a little different from the original design.

[V8 Fireworks]

well i agree with most of your post, except that i find webber's helmet ugly

What masterpiece exactly do you expect a 15 year old race car driver to dream up?

[BRK]

Speaking of national flags, I really miss this one. I'm surprised he's still wearing that all red one, looks tremendously out of place.

Would have loved it if he'd gone back to this scheme.

[jee]

Graham Hill = black, Damon = dark blue, Joshua = blue
Christian Fittipaldi uses his father's (Wilson) helmet design with switched colours.

Love this family based designs.

[midgrid]

The modern helmet design philosophies suck, imho. I liked it more when I saw a helmet and immediately knew whom it belonged to.

Raise your hand if you instantly recognize the driver by his helmet from this pic:

Christian Fittipaldi! Of course, in this respect second-generation drivers have an advantage, as they are more likely to copy or imitate their fathers' more simple designs.

[Andy865]

The modern helmet design philosophies suck, imho. I liked it more when I saw a helmet and immediately knew whom it belonged to.

Raise your hand if you instantly recognize the driver by his helmet from this pic:

LEWISS!!! YEAH!!

[OSX]

doesn't josh where blue with the white dashes

edit, found a photo

Cool! It's very nice how the Hill family is keeping the memory of Graham alive by keeping the same basic helmet design from father to son.

[Jackmancer]

Cool! It's very nice how the Hill family is keeping the memory of Graham alive by keeping the same basic helmet design from father to son.

Apart from that, it's pretty clever marketing as well - just like Bruno Senna's helmet.

[PayasYouRace]

The modern helmet design philosophies suck, imho. I liked it more when I saw a helmet and immediately knew whom it belonged to.

Raise your hand if you instantly recognize the driver by his helmet from this pic:

Why is Christian Fittipaldi driving Robby Gordon's car? Is that from a test in 1995?

Graham Hill = black, Damon = dark blue, Joshua = blue
Christian Fittipaldi uses his father's (Wilson) helmet design with switched colours.

Love this family based designs.

I'm pretty sure Graham's was also dark blue.

[Hippo]

Yeah it is from some test. I thought it would make for a slightly better "quiz" ..;)

[MaxScelerate]

I love those Dad-inspired helmets. The Hills' was great.

How about MOM-inspired helmets, though?;)

Image from http://fr.espnf1.com...tory/56496.html, © Getty images.

Edited by MaxScelerate, 19 November 2011 - 16:02.

[Sevach]

Speaking of national flags, I really miss this one. I'm surprised he's still wearing that all red one, looks tremendously out of place.

I don't get that either...

[Xpat]

Maybe it's just me but I like a more simple design. At speed all the helmets with a busier design seem to blur into a mess of color (colour). Damon Hills was excellent as was Coulthard's and Senna's.

And I also like a driver to keep the same basic design.

[seltaeb]

I totally agree on the Red Bull helmets (and the car liveries!). The only helmets in F1 that I actually like are Rubens', Jenson's, and Alonso's. Most of the others are way too "busy" looking.

[GSiebert]

I love those Dad-inspired helmets. The Hills' was great.

How about MOM-inspired helmets, though?;)

Image from http://fr.espnf1.com...tory/56496.html, © Getty images.

lol nice find

[phil1993]

Some of the drivers have nice helmets, really iconic and really defines them for me: Hamilton, Button, Alonso, Massa.

I didn't like Vettel changing helmets originally, but his designs have been awesome this year. Kudos to his helmet designer/painter. And as for TV guys complaining, well look at the T-bar and if that fails, if it isn't a yellow helmet, its him

However, some drivers helmets are truly hideous - Maldonado, di Resta - as if someone just vomited colours. The STR duo keep changing helmets too and that is really confusing! I swear Glock's & d'Ambrosio are identical too!

[dau]

Some of the drivers have nice helmets, really iconic and really defines them for me: Hamilton, Button, Alonso, Massa.

I didn't like Vettel changing helmets originally, but his designs have been awesome this year. Kudos to his helmet designer/painter. And as for TV guys complaining, well look at the T-bar and if that fails, if it isn't a yellow helmet, its him

However, some drivers helmets are truly hideous - Maldonado, di Resta - as if someone just vomited colours. The STR duo keep changing helmets too and that is really confusing! I swear Glock's & d'Ambrosio are identical too!

Really?



I quite like D'Ambrosio's. Clear and simple. Sadly, most of the other drivers seem to prefer those cluttered designs. "Hey, we can add another cool wedge here and a few pointless flowing lines there and i found some new colours in Photoshop yesterday..."

[phil1993]

They're nice helmets, just against the colour of the MVR-02 and from a distance, its difficult. Not as striking as the difference between most team mates, that's my point.

[purplejohn]

Direstas is probably the worst on the grid

[Bunchies]

It's ok to do that but Vettel's helmets could easily be mistaken for Sutil or Glock or Heidfeld or Kobyashi or Raikkonen etc etc. Any other elaborately styled helmet.

It's nice to have helmet designs that are instantly recognisable and well known by the fans instead.

Massa and Alonso have OK schemes... quite distinctive, though fairly elaborate. Hamilton's is good and so too Button. Webber's OK though it is a little different from the original design.

Heidfeld has a very dark helmet, Raikkonen is predominantly black and red, Vettel always has those concentric circles, and Kobayashi's is styled after a samurai helmet. I think you need some glasses bro.

[ensign14]

I heartily approve of this thread. How can Red Bull have its anti-conformist rebellious image when it dictates to all its drivers to paint their helmets like they're Bristol Rovers supporters?

I think pretty much all F1 drivers have hideous designs. Far too blingy and over-complex. Di Resta's above is a prime example, what's it meant to be? Stochastic shapes applied by Stevie Wonder? About the only one whose design makes any real sense is D'Ambrosio's, maybe Bruno's as well but that's a rip-off.

[purplejohn]

Yeah Direstas has the worst in history.